Archive for August, 2007

Humpback Elusions - August 30th, 2007

Well, no humpback sightings today, although we did see some of the Fin Back Whales much more closely today. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get any good pictures, as the boat was crowded, and many of the people on board we just plain rude. If we go again this trip, I’ll be sure to get [...]

The Story of Wild Woman Donna, Scooter Maniac - August 29th, 2007

Today was another fun and different day here in Ba Haba, Maine. Donna and I rented a pair of little 50cc scooters for the day, and zipped off around Acadia.

I had a Vespa-esque Roketa “Venice” model, and Donna’s was a Qlink Axon50. The Roketa was woefully under-powered — in many cases, it was all I could do to make [...]

Captain, Thar Be Whales Here! - August 28th, 2007

This is going to be a “reverse order” story, because the end of our day was so exciting! While sunrise was spectacular, and sunset was pretty, too, the whales were about the coolest thing going.

That, folks, is a Finback Whale.Â It’s called a Finback because it has a fin on its back. And we saw easily [...]

Cadillac Mountain Sunrise - August 28th, 2007

This is why we got up aÂ 4 o’clock this morning.
Along with a couple of hundred other folks, we trekked to the top of Cadillac Mountain to be the first folks in the U.S. to see the sun rise this morning. What surprised us was how quickly the crowd dispersed. The sun popped up over the [...]

Busy Day in Ba Haba … - August 27th, 2007

… and in the surrounding area. Highlights today:

Breakfast — awesome French Toast, and some sort of chicken sausage.
Scenic boat ride — saw seals and an osprey.
Donna tries motor scooter with good success (sorry, no picture).
Big cruise ship in Bar Harbor.
More fun photography.

We’re heading up to the top of Cadillac Mountain in the morning [...]

Hazy Day - August 26th, 2007

I’ve been spoiled, again, for vacations. There’s just no better way to go on a vacation than staying at a B&B. I don’t think I could ever do a “hotel-based” trip again. The place we’re staying has three cats that pretty much rule the roost, especially Warwick, who’s a big, fuzzy, short-haired cat that’s a good [...]

Looks Like We Made It - August 25th, 2007

We finally made it onto a plane, about and hour and a half late, and landed in Portland. After a minor miscue in finding the rental car desk (Enterprise is off-site at Portland), we were on our way to Bar Harbor.

We settled into the B&B (a place called Aysgarth Station), and strolled into the bustling downtown. [...]

It All Started So Well … - August 25th, 2007

This post was started at about 10AM, at BWI airport, while waiting for our flight to leave.
We’re on our way to Maine. After a fair amount of scurrying around yesterday, we got it all together and got out the door to get over to BWI early for our flight. There was an amazing level of [...]

Homeland Security at Risk From Counterfeit Photo Gear - August 23rd, 2007

[At popphoto.com, via e-mail]
Buy a camera, take a picture, print it out, help terrorists.
Say what? Well, according to the Department of Homeland Security and the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, a significant tributary of funding for terrorism leads back to a growing pool of counterfeit photo products: memory cards, batteries, ink cartridges, and even [...]

Nikon Says, "Me, too!" - August 23rd, 2007

Fast on the heels of Canon’s announcement of two new ante-upping DSLR models, Nikon cries, “Me, too!”
Nikon’s web site this morning carries press releases for a new D300 as well as a new model D3. The specs on the D300 are skimpy in the press release, and those given don’t look particularly earth-shattering, especially at [...]

Another (Ho Hum) Site Update - August 22nd, 2007

I’ve done a little site updating, again. Those who don’t care about the geek stuff can move on.
This update is tri-fold and pretty major.
ICDSoft, our web host, has indicated that they may stop supporting MySQL 4 by the end of the year. So, I decided that I ought get on the stick and upgrade the [...]

There Is a Use For Live View - August 21st, 2007

I’d been trying hard to find a use for the live view feature of Canon’s new 40D. While reading one of my own comments on one of my flickr pictures, it came to me.

I was asked why I use my Casio point-n-shoot instead of my XTi to make my digiscoped images. My response [...]

Whither the Cats? - August 20th, 2007

I was reminded that we also haven’t written about the cats lately, so, here goes:
My initial comment was that “I haven’t killed them yet,” which is true.
Shadow continues to make great strides towards becoming a “normal” cat. Normal is in quotes for a reason — what exactly is a normal cat, anyway? He no [...]

It’s Official! - August 20th, 2007

Yes, we’re back to a discussion of toys. But, if this site has any particular theme at all, it’s toys, I guess. And most of the toys are probably photographic in nature. So, here goes…
Canon have finally put the 40D up on their web site. Of all the features listed, to me, the most [...]

Canon EOS 40D — Another Step Towards Reality - August 19th, 2007

Well, the much anticipated Canon EOS 40D looks to be another step closer to reality. Amazon now has a listing for the camera body, with a price point exactly as I anticipated — $1300.
[EDIT - The link has been removed from the Amazon web site. Looks like someone released early!]
[EDIT 7/20/07 - New links to [...]

Some Things I Haven’t Written About In A While … - August 17th, 2007

Kiah – The bird. Remember her? Shortly after we got her, I took her down to the avian vet for a check-out. It seemed to the vet that she was generally healthy, but, a bit under-weight. She weighed about 76 grams that day, and a bird her age should weigh at least 85 grams. Well, [...]

Minor Tweak - August 12th, 2007

I just got around to making an adjustment to the site that I’ve been meaning to for some time — I’ve moved the comments bit to the bottom of the article. It really makes more sense to comment on something after you’ve read it — at least that’s my opinion.
Post Revisions:There are no revisions for [...]

A Tale of Three Cycles - August 12th, 2007

What I Thought I Wanted As you may remember, I had pretty much settled on getting a Suzuki Burgman 400 “maxi-scooter” for trekking around, to save some on gas and to prolong the life (agony) of my nine-year-old 169,000 mile van. The 400’s a sharp machine that feels good under me, and isn’t too hatefully [...]

23 Online Retailers Canon Warns Against Using - August 9th, 2007

Recently, in a forum thread on a major photo site, a fellow posted a warning. He had ordered a Canon Rebel XTi from Broadway Photo (http://www.bwayphoto.com) for some incredible price. What he received was a Canon KISS Digital. Now, the KISS is the same camera as the Rebel XTi and the EOS 400D, but it’s supposed [...]

Emily Fine’s Very Fine Photos - August 9th, 2007

The other day, our friend Bob Sima mentioned to us that his niece was doing some really cool things, photographically, and promised to send us a link to her page on deviantART. Well, Bob finally sent the link yesterday, and I just now got a moment to take a peek.
For the record, Emily’s doing [...]

Apple Releases New iMacs - August 8th, 2007

So Sexy!
Apple have released the latest incarnation of the iMac, and it’s a stunner — and a lean, mean, computin’ machine!
The base model is a 20″ wide-screen with a 2GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB RAM, 250GB SATA drive, 8X “SuperDrive” and ATI Radeon graphics with 128MB memory — for under $1200. The $2300 top-of-the-line [...]

Own A Piece of History. It’s Only $8M! - August 8th, 2007

That famous farm near that alfalfa field near Woodstock, NY, is for sale!
Post Revisions:There are no revisions for this post.

40D Looks More Real Now … Maybe - August 8th, 2007

I’ll believe it when I touch it.
I’ve been staying out of the Canon 40D rumor mill. Sure, I’ve been keeping my eyes and ears open. But, I’ve not really said much except that, with the release of the rumored camera pushed further and further out, we decided to get Rebel XTi bodies, and concentrate on [...]

Red-banded Hairstreak - August 6th, 2007

This little friend came to visit the red impatiens on our front step:

I was able to ID him thanks to this fabulous site!
Post Revisions:There are no revisions for this post.

Wedding Photography Expectations - August 4th, 2007

On one of the forums, someone piped up with “I just got my first D-SLR [and first SLR, I might add], and I have a wedding to shoot. In three weeks. I’ve read the manual and fooled with the settings. Any advice?” This was posted in a forum where pros and semi-pros discuss concert photography.
While I hate to [...]

Can You Find Me On The Internet? Of Course You Can! - August 3rd, 2007

Donna sent me a link to this article on the Time/CNN web site a little while ago. Go read the article now, and then come back to the rest of this post.

Well, lessee, “Spock” is not officially open for business yet — still in “invitation only beta,” which means they have to come to you [...]

Yikes! I’ve got fibro-in-my-algia (huh?) - August 1st, 2007

In case you haven’t yet seen the new commercials from the National Fibromyalgia Association, you can find them here and click on “View the Public Service Announcement” in the lower right-hand corner.
In June, the FDA issued its first approval of a drug to treat the symptoms of this condition. For news on the condition and the [...]